Inbetween
by DellaNee-Chan
Summary: The story behind two people who were meant for each other and how exactly they grew so close, and ended up the way they did. KyoyaxKaoru
1. Chapter 1

**Here it is, the first story I'm writing for my true OTP. I'm a little rusty on writing OHSHC, so cut me a bit of slack for now. Hopefully I fall back into writing clearly for it soon enough, but I can't even explain to you how hard it was for me to stay in character and focus on the story. I blame my lack of interest of writing and OHSHC in general, I think I drained myself back in S&amp;C. Well, here's the deal with this particular story. As much as I**_** want**_** to base it around the manga, I think I'll keep it strictly to the anime, and branch out on my own once I reach the ending. Because I haven't read the manga in such a long time and I want everything to be as accurate as possible. So I hope you enjoy! Please leave a review!**

**I do not own OHSHC**

.oOo. Chapter One .oOo.

_"Bye the way, a question about your strategy, did you ever consider the possibility the date might go too well and those two might fall in love?"_

_ "Nah, it's still too soon for that, Hikaru is kind of a dummy"_

_ "Hey come down here, it's time for some melon~!"_

_ "Well, then he's lucky, because our club is full of dummies."_

It was funny, Kaoru had given so much up today, and yet, he found himself comfortably discussing love with the last person he expected to be. Today marked the day Kaoru opened the gates to their world, and allowed Hikaru to take a timid step out. It was only a matter of time before he walked out, and soon enough, he'll be running. Haruhi was the key for him, but it was another story for Kaoru. He wasn't ready to leave yet. Kaoru was perfectly comfortable watching Hikaru bound away without him, and was happy to help him go.

Well, that wasn't exactly fair to say of Kaoru, he was stepping out, too. Lately, he's been spending a lot of time with Kyoya, designing costumes for the upcoming host club events. It used to be him and Hikaru, but it seems Hikaru has been more distracted with video games and Haruhi, not much time for costumes. Kaoru didn't mind too much, though it was rather difficult not to have a second opinion. One day when Kaoru brought in some sketches to show Kyoya, the upperclassmen noticed the sudden change in the style, it was more clean cut then flamboyant and carefree. After getting an earful of suggestions and revises from the demon lord, Kaoru sarcastically snapped, "Why don't you just help me when I'm making them if you have so many ideas then?"

Then they ended up meeting once a week, every Friday afternoon in the Hitachiin estate. At first, Kaoru was nervous. He couldn't really trust the shadow king. But after a few meetings, he learned that he wasn't so bad. They actually got along quite well. Kyoya wasn't always a cold-hearted demon, rather just a very polite and kind person, at least when he didn't consider something actual work.

"Come on then, don't you want some watermelon?" Kyoya said, pulling Kaoru from his thoughts. He looked up at Kyoya, the light reflected off his glasses as he smirked. (Kyoya didn't quite_ smile_). They headed down the stairs, joining the rest of the club.

.oOo. One Week Later .oOo.

"I think the frills are a bit too much on this shirt, don't you?"

"But it's supposed to be all royal and princely, plus I think it fits Tono quite well."

"Maybe, but I feel like it's a bit too dramatic, and it might be too uncomfortable."

Kaoru and Kyoya were sitting in the main dining room, drawings for a future cosplay spread across the table. Tamaki had decided on fairy tales, so Kaoru took the liberty of inputting his own kind of style for each of the outfits. Just making them Disney-based or anything like that would be too boring.

Kaoru nodded, taking the picture and scribbling a few words onto it. Kyoya picked up two this time, both meant for Mori. Honey was supposed to be the little mermaid, and Mori had two choices. "Why did you design Mori-Senpai a lobster costume?"

Kaoru laughed. "I thought it would be cute, instead of making him Prince Eric he could be Honey-Senpai's caretaker. It made a lot of sense to me at three in the morning."

Kyoya smirked, "Yes, it does fit quite well, maybe we should go with it." The upperclassmen placed it into their "create" pile. Kaoru laughed a little harder-it looked like Kyoya _did_ have a sense of humor.

He picked up Haruhi's next, which was an elegant blue dress and glass slippers. He studied it for a moment. "Kaoru, are you really okay with giving up Haruhi for Hikaru's sake?"

Kaoru blinked, he didn't expect this. "Well... It isn't so much me giving up on her, rather I realized she isn't like that to me. She was the first person to truly break into the world Hikaru and I had made for ourselves. At first I thought I liked her, but then I found out that feeling was just friendly. And you, Senpai? What is she to you?"

Kyoya chuckled. "If I thought of her as anything more to me than a friend, she wouldn't just be a friend at this point." Now that he thought about it, Kaoru knew Kyoya would do anything to get what he wanted. A shiver ran down his spine.

"True, very true." Kaoru wondered if Kyoya actually did like anyone. Would he have actually admitted to liking Haruhi in the first place?

They moved onto the twins' costumes. They were supposed to be Hanzel and Gretel. "Who's the lucky one in the dress?" Kaoru sighed.

"That would be me. Hikaru is the more dominant one in the act, so he gets to wear the pants."

"Well at least you'll be cute." Kyoya chuckled, making the younger Hitachiin blush a bit out of embarrassment.

"Shut up, Senpai!"

.oOo.


	2. Chapter 2

**You remember when I said I would branch off once I reached the end of the anime? Well, it's a lot closer ****th****a****n**** I expected. Episodes after 16 aren't much to work with. I was going to do something with Kyoya's Reluctant Day Out, but then I would be leaving the canon story and I don't want that. So there are going to be some weird time jumps and then the end will be here ****before you know it. At that point I start to branch away on my own story line. Knowing myself, I'll probably reference some chapters of the manga, but I will restrain myself as much as possible.**

**I do not own OHSHC**

.oOo. Chapter Two .oOo.

Halloween was on its way, and Kaoru had a few ideas for their cosplay. Him and Kyoya were seated in a den in the Hitachiin estate.

"What about zombies?" He pitched to Kyoya, pulling out a sketch from his folder of ideas. It showcased Tamaki with ripped clothing covered in blood stains. He looked dirty and only had one arm.

"That would work, if we planned on _scaring _our customers, but we need to play to their fantasies." Kyoya took the drawing from Kaoru and placed it into the "No-Way-In-Hell" pile. Kaoru frowned, he was really excited about that one.

"You obviously haven't seen _Warm Bodies_."

"Any other ideas?" Kyoya ordered. This wasn't the first time he snapped at Kaoru today.

"Well, I have a ghost sketch here. We could all have tragic stories of our deaths." He pulled out a sketch of Honey-Senpai in a long white night gown. He even drew in a silly Charlie Brown ghost costume for Usa-Chan.

"That could work, though it would be a little too depressing." Kaoru placed the sketch into the "Maybe" pile.

"I don't think it would be depressing. Wouldn't girls love it? 'Oh, Tamaki-Sama, I will send you to heaven kyaaaaaa~'" Kaoru stood up and dramatically imitated one of their clients, swaying back and forth while his hands folded over his heart.

"Kaoru, please focus. We don't have the time to play around," Kyoya growled. Kaoru plopped down on the couch next to Kyoya and studied the look on his upperclassman's face. "What?" Kyoya glared down at him, his eyebrows knitting.

Kaoru placed his finger in between Kyoya's eyebrows. "You'll get wrinkles at a young age if you knit your eyebrows like that." Kyoya sighed. "What's wrong with you today?"

"I stayed up all night balancing the Berlin accounts, and had meetings all day. Excuse me if I'm a little high strung," Kyoya barked, his glasses reflecting the light.

"Well, you could have said that earlier. We can just meet tomorrow for this… There's still time before Halloween, go home and rest." Kaoru began to clean things up, placing papers back into their respective folders and such. Kyoya placed his hand on Kaoru's wrist.

"No, we can finish. I apologize for snapping at you... It was rude of me to do." Kaoru looked at Kyoya for a moment, then placed the folders down.

"Fine, one more pitch and then we're done. Vampires."

"Vampires?" Kyoya smirked. "Perfect, they'll love vampires." Kaoru pulled out a paper from a folder. This sketch was of Kyoya in a cape with a big collar surrounding his head. Beneath the cape was an elegant suit, very _Dracula_.

"What do you think? Should I have gone a more_ Twilight_ route?" Kyoya shook his head.

"No, these are perfect."

.oOo. A Few Days Later .oOo.

This was an emergency meeting. It was do or die. Keep Haruhi or let her go... to Lobelia. Kaoru was madly tossing dresses out of a closet, clothes flying in all directions. Kyoya was doing his best to arrange them neatly, but Kaoru just kept flinging.

At one point, Kaoru froze, and began to laugh. "What is it?" Kyoya inquired, curious as to what the boy was laughing so hard at. Kaoru revealed a long black dress from the closet and held it up to Kyoya.

"It's perfect! Oh my gosh, Kyoya, you're going to be_ adorable._" Kaoru was giggling madly. Kyoya shook his head.

"Oh, no. No way in hell am I wearing a dress. You fools do as you please, but do not drag me into this."

"But senpai, you'd be so pretty!" Kaoru began placing the dress on a mannequin. "It fits you so well! It brings out those gorgeous eyes of yours!"

Kyoya raised his eyebrows. "Gorgeous eyes? I'm sorry, but no matter how tempting your compliments are, there is no way you're putting me in that dress."

Kaoru grinned mischievously. Oh, that dress was going on him tomorrow, all right. He'd be sure of that.

.oOo. The Next Day .oOo.

Kyoya walked out of the dressing room in the back of music room 3. He was in that dress, alright, and he was going to kill Hitachiin Kaoru.

It all started when his last class ended-one of his classmates had been carrying a pair of scissors and tripped, effectively ripping a hole into the right leg of his uniform. She apologized profusely, and "luckily" Kyoya wasn't hurt. But he knew all too well she was a client of the twins. This wasn't too bad, though, it was easily fixed. But then, Tamaki was running into the music room behind him, holding a bucket of water. He just so happened to trip right as he passed Kyoya, effectively soaking him head to toe.

Kyoya always kept spare uniforms in the dressing room, so this didn't seem too bad, but he had a feeling he knew exactly what he would find there-absolutely nothing but the dress.

_Ooooh, Hitachiin Kaoru, you better sleep with one eye open._

.oOo.


	3. Chapter 3

**So I actually finished this a while back, but the file was corrupted for unknown reasons and I have to rewrite it. It took me a bit to muster up the energy to, because recently I haven't been the most motivated to write this. But here! Also, thank you for the reviews! It really helped to get me to come and write this chapter.**

**I've also kinda lost my Beta to college, so I this is kinda a blind upoad because I just really wanted to get a chapter out and it sucks knowing I have one for you and I just can't get it out because I don't have an editor. I need to find a new one and soon, so I can get these out to you in the way I want them to be. To be honest I think it'll be hard to replace this Beta, since she has always gone in the same direction as me and I don't know if I can find someone else like that. So sorry for the delay.**

**I do not own OHSHC**

.oOo. Chapter Three .oOo.

The Ouran Fair was coming to an end, but the happiness it brought lingered within Kaoru. He sat at an empty table with a cheesy grin plastered on his face, watching the guests file out of the main ballroom one by one.

His feet ached from all the dancing, and he was just exhausted from all of today's events. He wondered what the club was going to be like from here on out. Honey-Senpai and Mori-Senpai will be going to Ouran University soon enough, and it seems Tamaki has finally realized his feelings for Haruhi, then again he might have considered this fatherly love again. Back to the good ol' standstill. Then again, that meant Hikaru still had a chance. Kaoru then wondered where _his_ future lied. What would happen to him?

Kaoru's eyes shifted to where the shadow king was standing. He was saying goodbye to one of their clients, probably a business partner. After the girl and her parents walked out, Kyoya's eyes met Kaoru's. He smirked and started to walk over.

"Tired?" Kyoya asked him, taking a seat on the chair next to Kaoru's.

"Exhausted! Aren't you?"

"It was a long day," Kyoya nodded,

"Maybe this is just me, but I feel like today is the end of something, lnd now something new is about to start, but I can't tell what," Kaoru observed, he felt all too comfortable sharing such thoughts with Kyoya. This wasn't the first time, after all.

"I feel this too. As if today was the ending of chapter, and tomorrow will be the start of a new one." Kyoya chuckled. "And knowing the people we surround ourselves with, it'll be just as exciting and eventful as the last," Kyoya responded, his gaze falling on where Tamaki and Hikaru were bothering Haruhi.

Kaoru studied Kyoya's face. He really was handsome, and right now he could get a good look at his eyes. They were a dark gray color, Kaoru found this color so beautiful, it really did suite Kyoya. He felt like he could get lost in those eyes.

Wait, this is _Kyoya_ he was thinking about. Kaoru shook his head, blushing madly. "Something wrong Kaoru?" Kyoya looked back to Kaoru.

"No, nothing. Just felt myself falling asleep."

.oOo. A Few Days Later .oOo.

It's almost as if the fair never happened. Everything seemed to just fall back into place. Tamaki and Hikaru seemed to always be fighting for Haruhi's attention, Kaoru joined his brother a few times, but he really didn't feel like playing with her anymore. His attention seemed to always bring itself to Kyoya now.

He found his eye's wonder to the shadow king whenever his attention wasn't on the brotherly love act. He wanted to know more about him, he wanted to stare into his eyes, he wanted...

_No! Bad Kaoru! You're not aloud to like Kyoya! For one, he's a guy! And he's KYOYA. You know, the one who would ship you off to the Sahara Desert while you slept if you pissed him off. The one who probably doesn't even know how to romance! If he found out, I don't even know what would happen! _

Kaoru knew he was exaggerating, but seriously, it's Kyoya, the shadow king. Would he even consider a guy, let alone Kaoru? He doubted it.

Yet he couldn't help it. He couldn't help but feel the way he did, no matter how helpless, or potentially dangerous.


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, it's been a while. I honestly have had this sitting in my google docs for a few months now collecting dust. A lot of my absence in the beginning has to do with losing my beta and also just kinda Senior year of high school. I honestly have completely forgotten where exactly this story was heading so uh… this outta be fuuuunnnnn.**

**.oOo. Chapter Four .oOo.**

Another Friday night had rolled around and Kyoya and Kaoru were preparing another set of costumes, but instead of the Hitachiin residence, they were in the Ootori residence. Kyoya had to go to a meeting with his father before the one he had with Kaoru, so he thought it best to hold both in the same place as to not waste time. Of course, this limited their resources. Kaoru only had his pencils, sketch pad, and a folder of designs he had prepared. They didn't have access to the Hitachiin rooms of fabrics and clothing, which stressed out Kaoru to no end.

While Kyoya was still in the meeting, Kaoru had made a huge mess of Kyoya's room. There were papers thrown carelessly around and Kaoru was sitting on his couch, tiredly sketching away. _I probably shouldn't have stayed up so late last night. _

Kaoru flopped his head down onto a decorative pillow and took a deep breath. _It smells like Senpai. I wonder if he's up late working on this couch. Maybe gets so tired he just falls over and passes out, I can see him doing that. Then waking up an hour later and skulking over to his bed, mumbling about how it's not good for your back to sleep on a couch. _Kaoru sat back up and looked over to Kyoya's bed, which was perfectly made. _I wonder if his bed is as soft as Tamaki says it is. _He looked over to the door and stood up. _He won't be back for a little while, it wouldn't hurt to just, sit down on it for a second, just to see what Tamaki blabbers about. _

Kaoru pushed himself up and strode over to the bed. Without even a second thought, he fell face-first into pillow heaven. And before he could even think about it, his eyes slowly closed and he fell asleep.

.oOo. .oOo.

Kaoru's eyes fluttered open. _Oh wow, I didn't mean to fall asleep. What time is it? _He sat up and stretched. Looking around a moment before realizing where exactly he was. _Oh… shit._

"Good morning," Kaoru looked over at the couch to see Kyoya sitting there with a smirk on his face, his eyes were focused on the laptop on his lap. "Did you sleep well?"

"I, uh," Kaoru stuttered, leaping off of the bed onto his feet. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep, nor did I mean to sleep on your bed I just was bored and I remembered something Tamaki had said and I was up all night drawing those outfits and I'm so sorry Senpai!"

Kyoya chuckled. "It's unhealthy to prevent your body from sleeping."

"This coming from the workaholic balancing accounts all night," Kaoru stuck his tongue out at the hypocrite. "What time is it anyway?"

"Midnight."

"Midnight!?" Kaoru ran over to the coffee table and picked up his phone. Five missed calls and twenty texts from Hikaru. Kaoru sighed and massaged his temples. "I better get going. Sorry we didn't get any work done, why didn't you wake me?"

"Well you were sleeping so peacefully I thought I shouldn't bother you," Kyoya pointed at all of Kaoru's supplies organized on the table. "I took the liberty of picking out the ones I thought were the best choices for next weeks event. I left some notes on them so take the time to look them over when you have the time this weekend."

Kaoru flipped through the sketches. There were sticky notes attached to a few with Kyoya's neat handwriting. "Will do. Thank you. For this and for letting me use your bed." He bowed towards Kyoya.

Kyoya nodded his head, still typing away. "It's no problem Kaoru. You need to be more mindful of your health. If you're getting too stressed or losing sleep from working on the costumes, tell me. We can take a break from cosplay for a week or two. Sales would suffer worse if we didn't have one half of the devilish twin act than if we were to not dress up on one or two fridays."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you again, Kyoya-Senpai." And with that Kaoru gathered his things and walked out. Once he sat into the back seat of his limo, he collapsed onto the seat and groaned.

_Great. Not only did I fall asleep in the bed of the Shadow King, but I got lectured by him too._

_Wait… was he actually worried about me? _

_Nah, no way. He was definitely worried about the club's income, not me. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Hahahahahahahaahahahahahahahha... I've failed all of you. So I'm just gonna put Passion Pit on repeat and do this shit. **

**.oOo. Chapter Five .oOo.**

Just like any other Friday in Music Room 3, Kaoru and Hikaru were knee deep in a brotherly love act. This Friday was Samurai themed, the twins were in identical robes that had the top parts left hanging at their waist so that they were completely shirtless.

Hikaru had Kaoru in a dip over the coffee table, finger under chin, their faces only a centimeter apart, the guests already bleeding from the nose.

"I don't care if she was just bandaging you up, Kaoru, I'm the only one allowed to touch you like... _Tono-Senpai! Put Haruhi down!" _Hikaru dropped his brother right on top of the table as his attention was pulled toward Tamaki spinning a very uninterested Haruhi around the room. There was a crash, multiple screams, and tea everywhere. Hikaru looked down, Kaoru's face was contorted with pain, and the girls were all panicking. He quickly helped his brother up.

"Kaoru I'm so sorry! I just got distracted and-"

"Oh no! There's broken tea cup shards in his back!" one of the ladies screeched, pointing at Kaoru's back, which did indeed have broken shards lodged inside and little lines of blood trickling down. Hani, who was already somehow in a nurses outfit, rolled over a stretcher. Mori, who was also not-surprisingly-but-kinda-surprisingly-enough in a nurses uniform, lifted Kaoru carefully and rolled him into the back room, the entire time Hani screaming wee-woo-wee-woo.

Tamaki announced to the guests that the club was to close early today, and that they will be open an extra hour on Monday to accommodate. The girls shuffled out, discussing the event and how it wasn't the first time this week the twins had been 'off '.

On Monday, Hikaru would space off while Kaoru was trying to talk to him, on Wednesday he spent more time over by Haruhi leaving Kaoru alone with their guests, and yesterday Hikaru tripped and fell on top of Kaoru. Of course that last one was played off to look like it was part of the act, but he tripped after seeing Tamaki going all lovey-dovey over Haruhi again. It was painfully obvious, Hikaru was letting his feelings for Haruhi get in between his act with Kaoru.

In the back room, Kyoya was dressed up in surgeons scrubs, and removing the shards from Kaoru's back. They had the equipment for such medical emergencies kept in the changing room, Kyoya liked to always be prepared, of course. Kaoru was wincing with every pull, but there weren't too many shards. It only took about five minutes to remove all of them. Kyoya had Kaoru sit up so he could wrap the temporary bandages around him.

Kaoru couldn't help but blush whenever Kyoya wrapped his arms around him to grab the roll from the other side. Well, it did a good job of distracting from the stinging pain with every tight tug of bandage.

"Kaoru, this is now a topic we need to discuss. Hikaru has put you in danger twice this week." Kyoya clipped the end of the bandage and motioned for Kaoru to stand up.

Kaoru sighed. He knew his brother liked Haruhi, he knew Hikaru was just getting distracted, but it still wasn't fair to him. What happened to their bond, what happened to nothing coming between them? All Hikaru wants to talk about is Haruhi, he always wants to see her, he'd rather play video games then help with the costumes and the clothes line they planned on debuting next spring. It was like their small world had come to a sudden halt. But Kaoru knew better then to complain about it, he knew he had to help Hikaru take his steps out of their world.

"It's not that big of a deal, Senpai. He's just kind of coming to terms with his feelings for Haruhi. I don't blame him too much, though it would be nice if I were spared the backlash." Kaoru said as he stood up, stretching a bit, then wincing. Kyoya put a hand to Kaoru's arms and pushed them down, shaking his head.

"If that's how you see it, but you should talk to Hikaru about this, it's bad if he allows this to continue affecting his club responsibilities." Kyoya then looked at Kaoru in his eyes, and Kaoru felt like he saw this soft notion in them. Like he read between every word Kaoru said, that he knew Hikaru was upsetting Kaoru with his recent actions, and for a moment, Kaoru thought Kyoya was sympathizing with him.

_But... what would Kyoya have to sympathize with me on? _Kaoru looked at him curiously. But Kyoya turned around and began cleaning up the medical supplies.

"Now, go on, I'm sure Hikaru is having a panic attack out there." Kaoru nodded to him.

"Thank you, Senpai."

.oOo. .oOo.

Kaoru walked outside the door, and was about to be tackled by Hani, but Mori was there to save the day and stop him.

"Kau-Chan I was so worried are you okay, it doesn't hurt does it, do you want to play with Usa-Chan to make it feel better?" Hani was wiggling in Mori's hands, reaching the stuffed bunny towards Kaoru.

"I'm fine, Hani-Senpai. Just a few cuts nothing serious. If anything disinfecting them hurt more then when I was cut." Kaoru looked past the two of them toward Hikaru, who's attention was set on Haruhi as she was tug-of-warred between him and Tamaki. Haruhi perked up when she noticed Kaoru.

"Kaoru, are you alright?" Her noticing caused Hikaru to snap his head toward his brother.

"I'm fi—_owowowowow"_ Hikaru jumped at his twin and gave him a bear hug.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I was just distracted and I didn't realize and oh god does it hurt you're saying ow," Hikaru stepped back, keeping his hands on Kaoru's arms.

Kaoru smiled up at him. "I'm fine, Hikaru. Really it wasn't that bad. Can we just go home?"

"Yes! Yes let's go right now!"

**.oOo. .oOo.**

**So I totally have a new direction and found more inspiration to keep going with this. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll have the next chapter out at some point (hopefully) this week. So look out for that! **


	6. Chapter 6

**You know, you all should be used to this by now. Anyway I now officially own the entirety of the Ouran Manga, now to get the DVD set for the show then my life can be over and I can die a happy woman. Also I have a beta kinda yaaaaayyy! So maybe these will actually be coming out sonner since I made him promise to make me a write this. Anyway, I just checked and there's 55 people following this. Why.**

**.oOo. Chapter Six .oOo.**

Kaoru felt the past few weeks of frustration building up inside him. He was doing so well at keeping everything together and supporting Hikaru, but this was getting ridiculous. If Kaoru was going to talk about it, he didn't know if he could keep his cool throughout it. The ride home was silent, Kaoru stared out the window, trying to avoid eye contact with Hikaru. What was he going to say? How was he going to even start this conversation?

As they pulled into the driveway of their home, Hikaru broke the silence. "Kaoru, has something been bothering you?"

_Oh, so he has noticed. I'm honestly surprised._

"Haruhi asked me this morning in class, she said you seemed a little more distant."

_Of course._

"You see, but that's just it. You didn't notice. At all." Kaoru sighed and turned to look Hikaru in the eyes, and he was met with confusion.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you upset at me for not noticing you were upset with me?"

"It's just... You only pay attention to Haruhi! You've left before me for school, you've completely abandoned designing, it's like you're a new person!"

"And what so bad about that, aren't _you _ the one that wanted this, for me to step out of '_our world_'?" The air quotations Hikaru used around 'our world' made Kaoru's heart break.

"Yes, _our world! _Wasn't that always what we were, the same person, you and me against everyone! I don't care if you make friends and spend time with other people, but you've completely left me behind!" 

"Well maybe you need to catch up! Maybe I don't want to be trapped in our world anymore!"

Hikaru bolted out of the car, which had stopped in their driveway quite a bit ago. He stomped up the stairs and slammed the door behind him. Kaoru just sat in the car, curling up into a ball in the seat.

_I really am the one behind now, aren't I? I'm always pushing him forward, and now I'm the one upset about him going beyond me. What am I doing anyway..._

Kaoru leaned over and opened the window to the driver's side. "Take me to the Ootori estate please." Without asking any questions the man drove Kaoru over to Kyoya's house. When they arrived, the man buzzing them in at the main gate said Kyoya was in a meeting but was told to let Kaoru in, as if Kyoya knew this would happen tonight.

_Of course the Shadow Prince saw this coming._

Kaoru nervously got out of the car and walked over to the main doors, which swung open before he could knock. A maid showed him to Kyoya's room and informed him that the master would be back in twenty minutes.

Kaoru sat on the couch, once again curling into a ball. If anything, this was a good time to think things over.

_I've depended on Hikaru for so long. Our world was everything to me. I always thought he thought the same way, and that if he did chase Haruhi, she would just join our world. But I guess I was wrong. I was so wrong. _

The flood gates opened as Kaoru fell over, mushing his face into a pillow.

_He left me. And now I'm alone._

Kaoru looked around him.

_In Kyoya's room._

…

_Why am I here? Why did I come here?_

Suddenly, the door opened, causing Kaoru to jolt straight up. Kyoya was back a little earlier than he expected.

**.oOo. .oOo.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't really know why it took me this long to write this chapter, like at the grueling pace of two sentences a week, but I've been trying, bit by bit. It's kinda different from other writer's block I've had, which was not knowing what to write. I know where I'm going with this story, and yet I would sit here staring at a blank page. Why. **

**.oOo. Chapter Seven .oOo.**

A calm Kyoya stands in the open doorway, the light reflects off his glasses as he begins to quietly walk in. There is this tense air surrounding the shadow prince as he approaches. Kaoru slowly sits back down on the couch, now very startled and confused.

"Are… are you alright Senpai?"

"Yes perfectly fine, why do you ask?" Kyoya takes a seat beside Kaoru, placing the laptop he was carrying down onto the coffee table.

"N-no reason," Kaoru decides not to inquire further, knowing well pushing Kyoya would only end badly for him.

"So you talked to Hikaru, then?" Kaoru nods, and Kyoya sighs. "And I can assume it ended badly."

Kaoru nods again, then stares into his lap.

"I thought Haruhi would just join our world, you know? You probably don't. I just… I thought things would be different. I didn't expect to always be left out, to be… left behind," Kaoru whimpered as tears begin to fall down his cheeks. "I thought I would be there too, next to Hikaru, like I've always been." Tears begin to spill over again.

Kyoya wraps his arm around Kaoru's shoulders and places a hand on top of his head, pulling him into his chest. Kaoru stopped holding back and throws his arms around Kyoya, who moves their hand to Kaoru's back. Kaoru begins bawling into the shadow king's chest, completely letting go.

"It was inevitable, wasn't it? If not Hikaru, then you may have been the one to pull away at some point. He's your twin, the only friend you've had for years, but there has to be a point where you two become your own people. And you need to stop seeing everything as you against everyone. Don't you see the host club as your friends?"

Kaoru sniffles and looks up to Kyoya. "I do…"

"Then rely on us a little more as well."

Kaoru didn't know how to respond to that. So he just stayed silent, quietly sobbing into Kyoya's chest until he dozed off.

**.oOo. .oOo.**

Kaoru woke up the next morning in Kyoya's bed. His nose felt stuffy and his eyes were definitely red and puffy. He sits up and stretches, taking a look around. The alarm clock next to the bed said nine o'clock. Kyoya seems to already be gone, but his room is an absolute mess.

_Why is Kyoya's entire wardrobe just laying around?_

"Oh! You're awake!" An older woman with a striking resemblance to Kyoya looks over from her position kneeling in front of Kyoya's dresser. "Kyoya told me not to wake you, so I've been trying to quietly organize his drawers. I wasn't too loud was I?"

Kaoru shakes his head, "No, I didn't hear a thing…"

"Oh! Well you're Kaoru Hitachiin, correct? I'm Fuyumi Shido, Kyoya's older sister," She introduces herself, a wide smile spreading across her lips.

"It's nice to meet you." Kaoru bows his head down respectfully. "Um, you're organizing Kyoya's clothes?"

"Well, yes I thought his drawers were an absolute mess so I took it upon myself to fix them!"

How odd, the last time Kaoru opened a drawer in Kyoya's room to find a button up shirt as an example for a costume, he remembered comparing it to his mother's closet, like the clothes were folded and kept for Aphrodite herself.

Kaoru then got up and walked over to where Fuyumi was trying to stuff the clothes back into the drawers.

_She's doing it all wrong._

"Mind if I give you a hand?"

"No no don't worry about this go have yourself some breakfast!"

"I insist." _Kyoya might have a fit coming back to his room to see this. _

Kaoru then picked up some shirts from the couch and brought them over next to Fuyumi. He started expertly folding them, quickly and perfectly.

"That's the son of a world-renowned designer for you!" Fuyumi giggles. "Can you show me how to fold like that?"

"Sure," Kaoru says as he picks up another shirt.

He begins to slowly go over folding different shirts and pants, showing her what to hang in the closet and what not to, how shoes should be properly stored, etcetera.

Time flew by, and before Kaoru knew it, it was four o'clock.

"This is the cleanest my room has been after a visit from Fuyumi." Kaoru jumps, he didn't notice Kyoya opening the door.

"Isn't it lovely! Kaoru-Sensei here was teaching me all about how to properly keep clothing!"

Kaoru laughs nervously, "Yeah, sorry I got carried away, but it's kind of natural for me when I see clothes like that."

Kyoya walks over to Kaoru and places a hand on his shoulder, looking deep into his eyes.

"Thank you."

_That was the most sincere thanks I have ever received. I guess Fuyumi sorts his clothes often._

"Anyway it's getting late, I should head home. I have to finish up some sketches for the next meeting. Bye Fuyumi-San! Bye Senpai, and thank you."

"It's no problem Kaoru."

Kyoya called an Ootori car to take Kaoru home. Kaoru didn't look at his phone until he sat down, and was slightly disappointed to see no phone calls or texts asking where he was all night.

_I should have assumed as much, but it still kinda hurts._

**.oOo. .oOo.**

**TAAAADAAAAAA I did it ✧*****｡****٩****(ˊᗜˋ*)****و✧*********｡ ****Thanks for reading! Love you guys (****灬'****ω' ****灬****)**


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